Cable TV is struggling to find network sitcom hits it can use for reruns

Cable TV is struggling to find network sitcom hits it can use for reruns
“New Girl” is the only viable option for 2015, while “The Mindy Project” and “Last Man Standing” are the only comedies left for 2016 syndication. Yet all three aren’t big hits. "We're all getting starved,” says an FX executive. "For every elite show like 'Big Bang Theory', there is an awful lot of mediocrity out there that won't pull ratings."

Why “Fargo” isn’t all it was cracked up to be
The glaring problem was that the FX event series paled in comparison to the brilliance of the Coen brothers, however much it tried, says Matt Zoller Seitz. "As long as (creator Noah) Hawley's show is doing things that are different from, but as aesthetically and philosophically rich as, things that the Coens might do in their films, it's in fine fettle. The problem arises when the show does things that seem lazier or dumber or more retrograde than things the Coens would do. And unfortunately, the show had many such lapses.” PLUS: “Fargo” became the antidote to bloody “shock-ya” TV.

John Oliver gets some “Fresh Air”
The “Last Week Tonight” host tells NPR’s Terry Gross of his net neutrality viral video, "It took a week of sifting through almost paralyzingly dull footage to try and work out how to present it."

Norman Weiss has been doing TV Tattle since the week "Freaks and Geeks" was canceled. He is a Hollywood outsider who was born and raised in Hollywood. "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" are broadcast 2 blocks from his high school.